165 arrests in protest at courts

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, February 29, 2000

One hundred sixty-five protesters were arrested after they blocked the entrance of a federal court building to call attention to the case of a Philadelphia man on death row.

Those arrested were among about 250 people gathered Monday morning in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals building at Seventh and Mission streets.

The planned protest focused on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing a police officer in 1981 and sentenced to death, and also touched on a verdict last week that acquitted four white New York police officers who were accused of shooting to death an unarmed African immigrant.

Many of the protesters agreed to be arrested for unlawful assembly and were led away in handcuffs. By the end of the rally, 89 women, 75 men and one juvenile were under arrest. All of them were cited for misdemeanor charges of obstructing the sidewalk, unlawful assembly and refusing to leave the premises. They were then released.

The protesters, who included UC-Santa Cruz Professor Angela Davis, railed against the death penalty and demanded a new trial for Abu-Jamal.

But Friday's verdict in the New York shooting death of immigrant Amadou Diallo case resonated among protesters as well. Many said the Diallo and Abu-Jamal cases were examples of institutional racism in the criminal justice system.

"The Diallo case also shows that is very difficult for a black

man to get a fair shake from police" or the courts, said Scott Braly, a spokesman for the demonstrators. "We've been trying for years to get a new trial for Abu-Jamal because his earlier trial was clearly flawed."

Streets shut down

The crowd began assembling at about 8:30 a.m. in front of the court building. Police shut Seventh Street between Mission and Market streets and part of Mission as well.

The shutdown seriously disrupted traffic because many commuters who got off freeways South of Market were forced to detour on their way downtown.

The rally against Abu-Jamal's death penalty was scheduled several weeks ago. The Abu-Jamal case did not come before the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco. His most recent appeal is before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A similar rally was held Monday at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., where dozens of people were arrested.

Supreme Court and city police officers led away protesters who sat in the street or jumped a barrier and went onto the plaza in front of the court

building.

Abu-Jamal, 45, a former Black Panther, was convicted in 1981 of the first-degree murder of a police officer. His supporters claim Abu-Jamal did not shoot the officer and did not have a proper defense.

Supreme Court appeal

The Supreme Court turned down an appeal by Abu-Jamal last

October. He still could pursue a new round of appeals.

John Riley, a spokesman for the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, which organized the Washington rally, said the demonstration was held the same day the justices heard arguments in a separate case on restrictions under a 1996 federal law for a prisoner seeking a federal court hearing to challenge the constitutionality of the conviction.

Attorneys for Abu-Jamal said the Supreme Court's ruling would have an impact on their case. The high court previously has rejected appeals by Abu-Jamal in 1999 and in 1990.

On Friday, a jury in Albany, N.Y., ruled that four white cops were not guilty of murder in a case that has polarized New York City.